Prof Dr Jerzy Maćków

• * 1961 in Wilamowa (Poland)
• Studied political science, fundamental philosophical issues and modern history in Poznań and Hamburg
• 1992 Doctorate under Prof. Dr Winfried Steffani at the University of Hamburg with a thesis on theories of totalitarianism and the systemic crisis in the People's Republic of Poland
• 1993-1999 Scholarship holder of the Volkswagen Foundation. Work on a research project on society protests against the consequences of the post-communist system transformation in Poland and Russia
• 1993-1999 Research assistant at the Institute for International Relations at the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Hamburg
• 1998 Habilitation in political science with a dissertation on the political stability of Poland and Russia in systemic change
• 1999-2004 Research project funded by the Volkswagen Foundation at the University Viadrina in Frankfurt (O) on the society, domestic and foreign policy of Belarus, Poland, Ukraine and Lithuania
• Since April 2002 at the University of Regensburg, holder of the Chair of Comparative Political Science specialising in Central and East Europe

 

 

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The reports have been prepared by students and on their own responsibility.

Excursion report Poland and Lithuania summer semester 2024

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Excursion report Poland and Ukraine summer term 2023

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Excursion report Baltic States summer term 2022

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Excursion report Georgia summer term 2021

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Excursion report Poland and Lithuania summer term 2020

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Excursion report Caucasus summer term 2019

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Excursion report Georgia summer term 2018

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Excursion report Poland summer term 2017

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Excursion report Poland and Belarus summer term 2016

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Excursion report Ukraine summer term 2015

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Excursion report Baltic Sea countries/Baltic region
Winter term 2014/15

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Excursion report Ukraine summer term 2014

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Excursion report Warsaw/Lviv 2013

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Excursion report Poland/Ukraine 2012

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Excursion report Ukraine 2011

Here (external link, opens in a new window) you can download a detailed report with numerous photos of the excursion as a PDF. The excursion programme is also available here (external link, opens in a new window).

Excursion report Vilnius 2010

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Excursion report Crimea 2009

Here (external link, opens in a new window) you can download a detailed report with numerous photos of the excursion as a PDF. The excursion was funded by the DAAD.

Excursion report Galicia 2008

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Excursion report Baltic States 2007

Here (external link, opens in a new window) you can download a detailed report with numerous photos of the excursion as PDF.

Excursion report Ukraine 2006

Here (external link, opens in a new window) you can download a detailed report with numerous photos of the excursion to the Ukraine as a PDF.

Excursion to Eastern Ukraine 2005

Here (external link, opens in a new window) you can download a detailed report with numerous photos of the excursion as a PDF.
Shevchenko's will

On 2 June 2005, the members of the German-Polish travel group in the Ukraine read out his poetic "Testament" in fourteen languages in Kanev, where the national poet of the Ukraine, Taras Shevchenko, is buried, looking at the Dnieper from a huge pedestal.
Click here (external link, opens in a new window) to watch the film.

Excursion to Western Ukraine 2004

Here (external link, opens in a new window) you can download a detailed report with numerous photos of the excursion as a PDF file

Excursion to Belarus 2003

Here (external link, opens in a new window) you can download a detailed report with numerous photos of the excursion as a PDF.

Notes on the research colloquium

Students who are writing their scientific theses or intend to do so under the supervision of Prof. Maćków should attend the research seminar, which will take place on Tuesdays, 14:00 - 16:00 in R006 in the summer semester 2024 . Among other things, everyone is expected to submit a handout for the division, which should be sent to Prof Maćków a few weeks in advance if possible (but one week is also sufficient). This handout, which should not be longer than two to three pages, should contain the following information:

1. Topic (title) of the thesis,
2. Problem definition,
3. Research question,
4. brief assessment of the state of research (in the context of the research question),
5. hypothesis or hypotheses, if applicable,
6. Outline.

It is advisable to prepare this handout only after a discussion (or several discussions) with the supervisor.

Field research stays

• Krakow, Warsaw - Poland, 16.01.-21.01.2024
  Presentation of the book "War for Ukraine", talks with publishers
• Krakow - Poland 06.10.-11.10.2022
  Participation in the discussion and talks with contemporary witnesses on the book project on the Ukraine war
• Wroclaw, Opole, Krakow, Warsaw / Poland, 29 June - 5 July 2021
  Discussion of joint projects with political scientists from the universities in the cities visited
• Wroclaw, Krakow - Poland, 30.09.-06.10.2020
  Exchange with experts from local universities on the current situation in Belarus and its influence on relations between this country, Russia, the EU, Poland and Germany
• Free University of Berlin, 03.03.-06.03.2020
  Expert meeting with the Federal Agency for Civic Education and the "Tagesspiegel" editorial team
• Tbilisi, Georgia / Baku, Azerbaijan, 23/09 - 30/09/2018
  Discussion round and research on the current situation in Poland
• Ukraine / Centre for Foreign Policy and Security Research, Minsk 09.06.-11.06.2017
  Meeting with Prof Arsenij Sivitskij, debriefing of the international conference and discussion of the publication
• University of Warsaw 12.03.-15.03.2017
  Participation in the Winter School of the Institute for Eastern Studies, presentation and discussion
• Kiev, Mohylianka Academy 15.12.-18.12.2016
  Literature research and meeting with Prof Volodymyr Kulyk and Mykola Ryabchuk
• Munich 11 Nov - 12 Nov 2016
  Meeting with Svetlana Alekseevich, political writer from Belarus
• University of London Library 28 Oct - 4 Nov 2016
  Research and research work on the current situation in Poland
• Adam Mickiewicz University Poland 16 July - 19 July 2016
  Research and research work on the current situation in Poland
• University of Warsaw 29 Jan - 31 Jan 2016
  Discussion round and research on the current situation in Poland
• Ahrensburg, Cultural Centre Marstall am Schloss 16.09.2015
  Lecture and discussion series on Central and East Europe 2016
  "Politics in the Remise"
• Berlin 20 May 2015
  Participation in the SWP colloquium "Challenges for Russian domestic policy"
• Russia 19.02. - 26.02.2014:
  Evaluation of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation's regional project "EU-Russia Dialogue"(participants/organisations)
• Kiev - Maidan 15 Jan - 17 Jan 2014:
  BAPP project "European Identity"
• Kyiv - Maidan 16 Dec - 19 Dec 2013:
  BAPP project "European Identity"
• Kiev - Maidan 30.11. - 02.12.2013:
  BAPP project "European Identity"
• Estonia 17 Nov - 23 Nov 2013:
  Evaluation of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation's regional project "EU-Russia Dialogue"(participants/organisations)
• Weimar, 16 - 18 November 2012
  Festival Weimar Rendez-vous with History
• Warsaw, German Historical Institute Warsaw, 17 - 19 June 2010
  International conference "Unity in diversity? Foundations and Requirements of an Enlarged Europe"

Fieldwork in Belarus from 26 September to 08 October 2009

Expert talks with:

• Paweł Kazanecki (Chairman of the East European Democratic Centre in Warsaw)
• Jan Malicki (Director of the Institute for East European Studies in Warsaw)
• Anna Gerasimowa (Director of the Human Rights House in Exile in Vilnius)
• Rita Lapinienė (Assistant Professor at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Belarus Office in Vilnius)
• Prof Dr Anatoli Mikhailov (Rector of the European Humanities University in Vilnius)
• Vytis Jurkonis (Head of the Civil Society Development and Cooperation Division of the East European Democratic Centre in Vilnius)
• Dr Alyaksander Milinkevich (Chairman of the "For Freedom" movement)
• Yuri Hubarevich (Deputy Chairman of the "For Freedom" movement)
• Vera Hurinovich (Administrator of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Belarus Office in Vilnius)
• Alexander Togulev (Assistant Professor at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Belarus Office in Vilnius)
• Gebhardt Weiss (Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Belarus)
• Jean-Eric Holzapfel (Chargé d'affaires a.i. of the Delegation of the European Commission to Belarus)
• Alexei Janukevich (Chairman of the Belarusian Popular Front Party)
• Vitali Rymashevsky (Deputy Chairman of the Belarusian Party of Christian Democracy)
• Anatoly Liabedzka (Chairman of the United Civic Party)
• Alyaksander Kazulin (Chairman of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party Hramada)
• Mikhail I. Pastukhov (Director of the Law Centre for Media Protection)
• Alena Makouskaya (Chairwoman of the Belarusian Association of Culture and Education "Bat'kavshchina")
• Natalia Vasilevich (employee of the web portal "Carkva")
• Matthias Biermann (First Secretary at the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Belarus)
• Andrey Dinko (editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Nasha Niva")
• Valeri Karbalevich (Head of Political Research at the Analytical Centre "Strategy")
• Tatjana Rewjaka (employee of the human rights centre "Viasna")
• Tobias Knubben (Director of the Centre for German Studies)
• Pavel Severinets (Chairman of the Belarusian Party of Christian Democracy)
• Jaroslaw Romantschuk (President of the Scientific Research Mises Centre)
• Dmitry Karpevich (Chairman of the Board of Directors of the "POST" Education Centre)
• Dr Igor Pelipas (Director of the Institute for Privatisation and Management)
• Vitaly Silitsky (Director of the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies)
• Alexander Krez (Political Desk Officer of the OSCE Office in Minsk)
• Dr François-Vadim de Hartingh (Programme Manager of the OSCE Office in Minsk)
• Grigori Dowguallo (First Vice President of the Christian Education Centre "Cyril and Methodius")
• Anna Maria Dyner (Specialist in Belarusian Affairs at the Centre for Eastern Studies in Warsaw)

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Research stay at the Harvard Ukraine Research Institute (HURI) in the winter semester 2006/2007

Monographs

• The war over Ukraine and peace in Europe, Bonn 2023 A geopolitical essay
• Communism and its transformation in Europe and Russia, Warszawa 2020
• The Ukraine crisis is a crisis of Europe, Berlin 2016
• Totalitarianism and after. Introduction to Communism and the Post-Communist System Transformation, Baden-Baden 2005.
• On the edge of Europe. Nation, Civil Society and Foreign Policy Integration in Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Ukraine, Freiburg 2004.
• The Construction of Political Stability. Poland and Russia in the upheavals of the eighties and nineties, Baden-Baden 1998.
• Parliamentary Democracy and Authoritarianism. Successes and Failures of Post-Communist Constitutionalism, Hamburg 1998.
• The crisis of totalitarianism in Poland. The theory of totalitarianism as a concept for analysing the Soviet socialist state. An analysis of the systemic and structural crisis of the Polish People's Republic in the seventies and eighties, Münster/Hamburg 1992.

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Publications

• National Democracy in the Ukraine, Munich 2011.
• Authoritarianism in Central and East Europe, Wiesbaden 2009.
• Thinking political change. Challenges of Democracy in a European and Global Perspective. Inaugural Lecture, Institute of Political Science, University of Regensburg, 26/27 January 2004, Münster 2004 (with Stephan Bierling, Karlfriedrich Herb and Martin Sebaldt).

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Contributions to edited volumes

• Belorussko-rossijskie otnošenija: rasčet nedoverie i neopredelennost', in: 25 let belorussko-germanskich otnošenij: perspektivy i vozmožnyetočkisoprikosnovenija. Sbornik materialov meždunarodnojnaučno-praktičeskojkonferencii, Minsk 2017, pp.28-32.
• Political resistance in authoritarian National Socialism and totalitarian communism, in: Barbara Zehnpfennig (ed.): Politischer Widerstand, Baden Baden 2017, pp. 341 - 362.
• Resistance ("political opposition") and political violence in communist totalitarianism, in: Krzysztof Labiedź/Malgorzate Swider (eds.): Opozycja antykomunistyczna w krajach bloku wschodniego w latach 1945-1989, Krakow, 2014, pp. 21-38.
• National Socialist and Communist Violence in Comparison - A Contribution to Repression and Suppression in Ideocracies, in: Uwe Backes/Steffen Kailitz (eds.): Ideocracies in Comparison, Göttingen 2014, pp. 339-382.
• Without a Reign of Terror, Totalitarianism Dies. Einige Überlegungen zur Politischen Gewalt in der kommunistischen Umma, in: John Andreas Fuchs/ Andreas Umland/ Jürgen Zarusky (eds.), Brücken bauen. Analyses and Reflections between East and West. Festschrift for Leonik Luks on his 65th birthday, Stuttgart, 2012 pp. 153-170.
• Ukraine: Nation-building and democratisation without a civil society, in: ders. (ed.): National Democracy in Ukraine, Munich 2011, pp. 7-14.
• Authoritarianism. Still the system of limited pluralism, in: ders. (ed.): Authoritarianism in Central and East Europe, Wiesbaden 2009, pp. 17-43.
• About this book. On concept, content and author, in: ders. (ed.): Autoritarismus in Mittel- und Osteuropa, Wiesbaden 2009, pp. 44-53.
• The post-totalitarian authoritarianisms. The development and variants, in: ders. (ed.): Authoritarianism in Central and East Europe, Wiesbaden 2009, pp. 325-349.
• Berlin and Kiev in Warsaw's "geopolitics", in: Bernd Rill (ed.): Vergangenheitsbewältigung im Osten. Russia, Poland, Romania, Munich 2008, pp. 53-62.
• The return of history after communism, in: Bernd Rill (ed.): Vergangenheitsbewältigung im Osten. Russia, Poland, Romania, Munich 2008, pp. 17-28.
• Russian Legal Culture, Civil Society, and Chances for Westernisation, in: Alexander J. Motyl, Blair A. Ruble, Lilia Shevtsova (eds.): Russia's Engagement with the West. Transformation and Integration in the Twenty-First Century, New York 2005, pp. 33-59.
• Vom Nutzen des Elitenimports im Postkommunismus, in: Oscar W. Gabriel, Beate Neuss, Günther Rüther (eds.), Konjunktur der Köpfe. Elites in the modern knowledge society, Düsseldorf 2004, pp. 212-223.
• From the Lublin to the European Union. Can the nationalism of Europeans in the "East" be overcome? In: Stephan Bierling, Karlfriedrich Herb, Jerzy Maćków, Martin Sebaldt (eds.): Politischen Wandel denken. Challenges of Democracy in a European and Global Perspective. Inaugural Lecture, Institute of Political Science at the University of Regensburg, 26/27 January 2004, Münster 2004, pp. 32-47.
• Poles and Germans. Nachbarn, die keine sind?, in: Beate Neuss, Peter Jurczek, Wolfram Hilz (eds.): Europäische Integrationsbestrebungen auf politischer und regionaler Ebene. Czech Republic and Poland, Occasional Papers No. 26, 2002, pp. 92-101.
• Demokratija, avtoritarizm, totalitarizm. Ustarela li eta triada v učenii o formach pravlenija?, in: Rossijskij konstitucionalizm. Političeskij režim v regional'nom kontekste. Sbornik dokladov, Moscow 2000, pp. 27-38.
• Put' k "chranitelju Konstitucii". Spavnitel'naja charakteristika konstitucionnych sudov v Germanii i Pol'še (The Path to the "Guardian of the Constitution". Comparative analysis of the constitutional courts in Germany and Poland), in: Centr konstitucionnych issledovanij MONF (ed.): Konstitucionnoje pravosudije v postkommunističeskich stranach. Sbornik dokladov, Moscow 1999, pp. 73-87.
• Der Einfluß der Systemkrise des Sowjetsozialismus auf Parteienbildung in Rußland und Polen, in: Dieter Segert (ed.): Spätsozialismus und Parteienbildung in Osteuropa nach 1989, Berlin 1996, pp. 73-92.
• Parliamentary elections in Poland (1993). The beginning of post-communist demythologisation, in: Winfried Steffani/Uwe Thaysen (eds.): Demokratie in Europa. On the Role of Parliaments, Opladen 1995, pp. 324-339.
• Introduction, in: August Pradetto (ed.): Die Rekonstruktion Ostmitteleuropas. Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft im Umbruch, Opladen 1994, pp. 9-21 (with Helmut Wagner).
• Polens Weg zur Dritten Republik, in: Uwe Thaysen/Hans Michael Kloth (eds.), Wandel durch Repräsentation - Repräsentation im Wandel. The emergence and shaping of parliamentary democracy in Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia and the former GDR, Baden-Baden 1992, pp. 69-101.

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Essays

• Jerzy Maćków, European state-building or demise, The European Union must be democratised if it is to become a state, in: INDES, 2024-1/2, pp. 85-94
• Catherine Belton, Putin's web. How the KGB took back Russia and then set its sights on the West in: Totalitarianism and Democracy, 21 (2024), 133-146, ISSN: 1612-9008 (print), 2196-8276 (online)
• Die verhängnisvolle Blindheit - Russland, Deutschland und die EU im Krieg um die Ukraine: Die Angst, sich selbst im Spiegel zu betrachten, in: bpb - Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, Deutschland Archiv, 23.01.2024
• The dying Russian empire and its German helper, in bpb - Federal Agency for Civic Education, Germany Archive, 2022
• Socialism, the time windows of its transformation and the premature prosperity in the nine federal states. Why more difficult sometimes means "better", in: Ilka-Sascha Kowalczuk/ Frank Eber/ Holger Kulick (eds.), (East) Germany's Path I, Berlin/Bonn 2021, pp. 377-393
• Blackmail and bribery - The Russian Empire and Belarus, in: east europe, Confrontation - Peace and Security in Europe, Berlin, 67th year, issue 3-4, 2017, pp.57-76.
• Majdan: The other European election? in: Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte (APuZ 12/2014), pp. 48-53. online: www.bpb.de/apuz/180378, 11.03.2014.
• Does the Weimar Triangle still make sense? Guest article in the Federal Network for Civic Engagement on the focus topic: "The Weimar Triangle" from 5 November 2013.
• Belarusian authoritarianism, in: Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte (APuZ 24-26/2011), pp. 21-26.
• Europeanism. Why the European Union must be democratised and needs a common foreign policy, in: Frank Decker, Marcus Höreth (eds.): Die Verfassung Europas. Perspectives on the Integration Project, Wiesbaden 2009, pp. 295-319.
• Nacija i gramadzjanskaja supolnasc', in: "Palityčnaja Sfera", No. 4/2005, pp. 88-103.
• Requirements of democracy in the post-communist system transformation.Czech Republic, Belarus and Ukraine, in: "Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen", No. 2/2005, pp. 411-424.
• On the success of economic transformation after communism, in: "FORUM für osteuropäische Ideen- und Zeitgeschichte", No. 1/2005, pp. 43-57.
• Democracy against nationalism. The only way forward for the EU, in: "Cittadinanza e Governance in Europa", No. 3/2004, pp. 60-72.
• Russia's relations with its "Slavic brothers" Ukraine and Belarus, in: "Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte", B 16-17/2003, pp. 31-38.
• Demokratija i avtoritarizm v postkommunističeskich transformacionnych sistemach (na primere Čechii i Belarusi), in: "Konstitucionnoe pravo: vostočnoevropejskoe obozrenie", No. 2/2003, pp. 2-10.
• Demokratija, avtoritarizm, totalitarizm. Ustarela li eta triada v učenii o formach pravlenija?, in: " Adkrytae Grmadstva" (Minsk), No. 1/2001, pp. 30-40.
• Preobrazovanije kommunističeskogo totalitarizma i postkommunističeskaja sistemnaja transformacija: problemy, koncepcii, periodizacija, in: "Polis" (Moscow), No. 4/2000, pp. 38-59.
• The legacy of El'cin: The "presidential state power" in the Russian political system, in: "Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen", No. 3/2000, pp. 635-656.
• Post-communism and "the East" in the shadow of political science, in: "Neue Politische Literatur", No. 3/2000, pp. 373-389.
• Authoritarianisms or "democracies with adjectives"? Systems of failed democratisation, in: "Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft", No. 4/2000, pp. 1471-1499.
• The transformation of communist totalitarianism and the post-communist system transformation. Periodisation, problems and concepts, in: "Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft", No. 4/1999, pp. 1347-1380.
• The Requirements of Democratic Development in Central, Northeastern, Southeastern and Eastern Europe, in: "Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte", B 3-4/1999, pp. 3-17.
• The poet and the system of injustice. The legacy of Zbigniew Herbert, in: "Mut", No. 377 (January 1999), pp. 70-83.
• Constitutional norm and practice in Polish constitution-making from 1989 to 1997: The end of an asymmetry, in: "Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen", No. 4/1998, pp. 660-575.
• The normalisation of the new old neighbourhood. On the current state of German-Polish relations, in: "Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte", No. 39/1995, pp. 32-39.
• The Totalitarianism Approach and the Collapse of Soviet Socialism, in: "Osteuropa", No. 4/1994, pp. 320-329.
• The general and specific characteristics of the Central Eastern European system transformation using the example of Poland, in: "Rissener Rundbrief", No. 5/1993, pp. 113-120.
• The détente policy of the Federal Republic of Germany towards developments in Poland in the 1970s and 1980s, in: "Zeitschrift für Politik", No. 4/1993, pp. 372-392.
• The Polish Sejm in its first term of office. A review, in: "Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen", No. 3/1993, pp. 422-438.
• Poland in upheaval: The 1989 elections. Political background, course, analysis, in: "Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen", No. 4/1989, pp. 651-580

Conferences organised by the Chair

• Conference in Regensburg and Lviv 2013 on the topic:
  The "dark sides" of Polish-Ukrainian history.
  Reality and aftermath in the public sphere
  Funded by the Federal Foreign Office and the DAAD
• International conference, Minsk: "25 years of German-Belarusian relations: New perspectives of co-operation and possible points of contact"
• European identity in the euro debt crisis
• National democracy
• Post-communist authoritarianism
• Coordinates of German-Polish relations